


Compassion is a verb, not a feeling

by Tabata



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 07:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18090362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabata/pseuds/Tabata
Summary: Elion is a god and he's tired of fighting heroes that his twin brother and king of the Gods Ellisar sends against him.





	Compassion is a verb, not a feeling

**Author's Note:**

> written for: COW-T #9  
> prompt: clash

The new hero arrives at dawn, only six months after the first one. He's equipped with a golden armor and a golden helmet, none of which has done any good to his last ten predecessors. His sword is _Faithkeeper_ , said to be forged in the blood of gods. Last time, Elion sent it back with the body and here it comes again with a new hand holding it. One would think they would at least change weapon after seeing that it doesn't work.

This hero is a little thing, quite underwhelming compared to that mountain of a man they sent to destroy him last time. Not that the other had any chance whatsoever – in fact, he lasted a few hours and then Elion just had to put an end to his pointless attempts at taking him down – but this one doesn't even look like he's cut for the job. He's small and skinny, and he's shaking like a leaf in the wind. It's not going to take long with this one.

Elion doesn't even bother to unleash his beasts on him to tire him out first. He himself will do just fine. Slowly, he descends the long staircases, one hand on the banister. This is a battle that can be fought on the ground, there's no need to wait for this fool to come all the way up to the top of the tower. “I must be honest,” he begins, “I wasn't expecting another one of you so early. Did your people even have the time to bury the last one?”

The hero is surprised as he was looking the other way and Elion's voice just startled him. He really doesn't have any idea of what he's doing. But he turns around quickly to face him. “I'm ready,” he says as if he felt the need to give Elion some confirmation of his own abilities.

“I have no doubts that you think you are,” Elion nods, stopping at the end of the staircases.

“My name is Aleesi and I'm here to kill you, Elion” the hero goes on. He sounds like he's repeating something he learned by heart, which is probably true. They all say pretty much the same thing.

“Since you already know my name, I wouldn't waste any more time in introductions.” Elion raises both his arms, the long sleeves of his robe sliding back along his forearms. Energy crackles between his fingers for a moment and then a white sphere of light starts forming between his palms. 

Sensing what is about to happen, Aleesi comes at him, holding the sword with both hands. Elion easily avoids him, by levitating a few feet sideways and releasing his spell at the same time. This wouldn't be a fair fight for him in any other circumstances – even a god struggles against a swordsman at close range as he has not time to properly charge his power – but he can handle this guy without breaking a sweat. He releases the energy sphere on him. _Faithkeeper_ absorbs the best part of it, but the rest impacts on Aleesi who's sent flying a good ten feet.

Elion charges another energy sphere and throws it at him right away. Aleesi proves himself to be a little tougher than he looks and rolls on the ground, avoiding it. He stands up, although swaying a little, and once he finds his footing again, he faces Elion one more time, holding his sword securely. Elion would like to tell him _Bravo!_ , but he holds himself back. It would sound like mocking a few seconds before destroying him. 

Aleesi wards off five more of those spheres with the flat part of his sword, but a hail of them proves to be too much. He diverts a few and parries a couple, but the rest rains on him and he collapses under the bombing. “I'm sorry, mate,” Elion says as he gets closer to his enemy. “It's nothing personal, I just don't have the time for this right now.”

Only after the dust has cleared Elion realizes that the body on the ground is that of a young boy, not older than fourteen. The golden helmet has rolled away, revealing a pubescent face, probably years away from even the faintest trace of a beard. The kid lies abandoned against the wall, his head bent on his chest. He's got an ugly gash on his neck, a broken leg and several burning on his body, but his fingers are still closed tightly around the hilt of the sword. He didn't let go of it even for a second. Elion feels compassion and an impossible rush of pride for him.

He feels for his pulse and he's happy to find one, although weak. The kid opens his eyes and tries to blink away the mix of exhaustion and pain. He's too broken to run, but he won't look away. “I'm not going to plead for my life,“ he informs him in a ragged breath.

Elion crouches beside him. “You won't have to, Aleesi,” he says and he would like to smile warmly at him to show him he means it, but he's too angry now even to be reassuring. “I'm not going to kill you.”

That seems to confuse him. “You're making fun of me? That's low, even for someone like you.”

“You know half of what you need about me, and half of that is false,” Elion says, sounding more resigned than offended. Then, without saying another word, he picks him up from the ground and they both disappear.

The Gods are feasting, as they always do, when Elion appears in front of them. Their dwelling should be precluded to him, protected – as they say – by their divine essence as opposed to his malignant powers, he supposes. The truth is that he's essentially made by the same matter they are and he can very well dwell where they do. If he doesn't, it's only because he doesn't want to.

“How you dare coming in here, you dirt—“

“What is this?” Elion interrupts him, still holding Aleesi in his arms. “What have you sent me?”

His long black hair and his slightly grayish skin make them all seem to shimmer way more than they usually do. They should be happy he's there for the mere fact that he makes them more beautiful. Ellisar, king of the Gods and Elion's twin brother, finally stands up. “You dare coming in here,” he resumes, because there's no interrupting him, “bringing us the remains of yet another life you destroyed? Have you no mercy left in you, brother?” 

“I have destroyed nothing,” Elion pronounces every single word slowly and Aleesi, whining faintly in his arms, proves that he's not lying. “You, on the other hand, sent him to an almost certain, gruesome and pointless death!”

“He is a hero,” Ellisar says, “invested with the greatest honor we can bestow upon humankind, our blessing.”

“He is a child!” Elion clarifies, since that small detail seems to evade them. “A child sent to me unprepared. And for what? So you can say you have done your required blessing and I can keep being the villain? So we can start this all over again in six months?”

“Our constant fight is what keeps this world balanced,” Ellisar explains to him as if Elion didn't know.

“Oh, but you don't fight at all, brother. You send children to do your job!” Elion retorts, showing Aleesi to him, almost thrusting him towards Ellisar to make him see the true meaning of the body in his arms. “Hadn't I stopped when I did, he would be dead after a fight that wasn't fair to begin with.”

“He was—“

“Scared, that's what he was! As he should be, because he wasn't supposed to meet me in battle so young, so not ready and with an armor that doesn't even fit!” Elion goes on, his contempt growing by the minute. “If you want this war so bad, then fight it with honor! Send me true warriors and you will find me ready to fight them with mine.”

Ellisar tenses, but it's all the anger he allows himself to show. It's enough for Elion, who can read the subtlest changes in him and knows the rage that's boiling under his brother's skin right now. “Very well,” he says after a long pause. “You will have the hero you ask for. Leave the boy with us.”

“That's not your decision anymore, Ellisar.” Elion hisses, and then he and Aleesi are gone again.

 

*

Once they are back in the tower, Aleesi opens his eyes. The house of the Gods was so bright it hurt them, here at least he can look around. “Why didn't you leave me there?” He asks.

“Because they didn't give you any choice back then and they weren't going to give you one now. Heroes destroy evil or die, you did neither. What do you think it was going to happen?”

Aleesi frowns. “And what choice are you giving me?”

“First, I'm going to free you from this uselessly heavy piece of junk.” And as he speaks, the space around them starts to change and turn into a bedroom with a single bed and a window. Aleesi can see purple fields out there, like he has never seen anywhere else. It's the sight of a completely different place. “And then I'm going to give you this room, where you will eat and rest. Once you are healed, you will choose if you want to stay.”

“Or?” Aleesi asks, now lying on the bed, the armor gone and his wounds tended to.

“Or if you want to become strong enough to defeat me,” Elion smiles. “Either way, regain your strength. You will need it.”  
And with that, he's gone.


End file.
